So many of you have been asking that I wanted to let you know a.s.a.p.: The Nonprofit Tagline Awards (a.k.a. The Taggies) are coming back this summer. Great Words Promoting Good Causes!

This will be the fourth awards program, and I’m thrilled about it: Because I believe strongly that a strong tagline does double-duty — working to extend your organization’s name and mission, while delivering a focused, memorable and repeatable message to your base. It’s one of your most effective marketing tools, but a GettingAttention survey showed that 72% of nonprofit organizations don’t have a tagline or rate theirs as performing poorly.READ MORE

Congrats to the organizations behind the winning taglines,reviewed in this brief video. The taglines were selected by more than 6,100 voters from 70 finalists, identified by our expert panel of judges.

The organizations behind the winning taglines range from the regional (Indiana State Council of the Emergency Nurses Association) to the national (Youth Service America) and global (Episcopal Relief & Development). All did an admirable job in putting a few select words to work to build their brands, programs and fundraising impact.

These winning taglines are terrific ingredients in your own branding and marketing brainstorming, and I’ll be sharing the stories behind them in the weeks to come.

Register now for free access to the 2011 Nonprofit Tagline Report and the All-New Online Tagline Database. The report and database, to be released in late fall 2010, feature more on the winning taglines plus:

The 10 Have-Tos for Successful Taglines

The 7 Deadly Sins – Examples of what not to do.

Searchable Access to more than 4,800 Nonprofit Tagline Examples for use in tagline brainstorming.

I’m thrilled to tell you that more than 2,700 taglines — of four types from nonprofit organizations in 13 different categories from health to civic benefit — were entered in the 2010 Nonprofit Tagline Awards . That’s:

These finalists are the taglines up for awards! Voting for the 17 winners — one organizational tagline in each of 13 categories; one tagline in each of the fundraising and event types; and two in the program tagline type due to the large number of entries — will open in early September.

I’ll keep you posted on the voting — the more voters, the more accurate the results!

Thanks so much for spreading the word, for entering and to our fantastic judges for their time and effort!

P.S. I have to tell you that although some of the taglines entered work well (roughly 30%), most do not. The reasons why are varied, from “they make no sense” to “they make sense, but don’t make an impact.” Whatever the reason, the end result is a highly-used message that’s not doing its job for your organization.

That’s solvable but a call to action you have to heed. Many of you need to revise your tagline, or develop a new one altogether.The fully-revised 2010 Nonprofit Tagline report and first-time searchable online tagline databasewill be a great help in making the most of the few words that comprise your tagline .

Make sure you’re in the first wave to get these 2010 tagline resources by downloading the 2009 report now. It’ll give you a great head start and you’ll be at the top of the email list come November!